Category: 2014 Isle Royale NP

                We have accepted a couple of challenges from “Backpacker Magazine” this year: 1) take a new hiker in the back country (and presumably bring them back alive and relatively unharmed—we took my cousin, Chris, to the Grand Canyon in February of this year, and are now taking my brother-in-law, George to Isle Royale on this trip); and 2) make it to 3 National Parks this year (we are planning on the Gray Wolf Loop in Olympic National Park this September).  We’re starting to get this primitive camping/backpacking thing down.  Who needs beds and hot showers every day?  Porcelain—let’s consider this one a little bit more.

                After a night of drinking heavily last Christmas, Pam and I decided that George needed some hobbies to keep him active now that both of his daughters are married and live away from home.  Plus, he’s looking at retirement in the near future so he will have more time on his hands.  Since we only have one hobby (other than drinking, which we have already gotten George involved with) we decided to share the joy of the backcountry with him.  I’ve got enough airline miles accumulated from work for all 3 of us to fly free to Minneapolis and, having evolved my gear over the years and not gotten rid of anything, have enough spare gear to outfit him for the trip.  Worst case outcome of this trip (second worst case, actually with worst case being his death, que sera sera) is that we will develop him as a resource to handle trail shipments when we hike the AT.  Best case outcome, he’ll do the AT with us and buy us food along the way as a means of showing us his gratitude for getting him out of the house and back in shape.  I really like free food so I’m hoping we pull this off.

                As usual, I have taken care of all details for this trip including airline tickets, rental car, hotel reservations, ferry to Isle Royale, gear and food for all 3 of us, and itinerary.  All Pam and George had to do was get their own clothes and cameras and keep track of that while I do everything else (woe is me!). I’m always three steps ahead of Pam in details.  By the time we start the trip, she asks me if I’ve done this—yes; do we have this—yes; how about that—yes; but did you remember to do that—yes.  Like working as an engineer, I take care of all details to only have the boss question every decision and activity after the fact.  As further evidence of my acumen, I accomplished all of these details while moving our household from Sikeston to Cape Girardeau all without Pam missing a single day of work.  Even though I got us moved earlier than we were supposed to, she still had to have a perfectionist meltdown because not all of the pictures were hung before we left for this trip. 

                I got us all up on time to make it to the airport and do curbside check in of our luggage while I went to park the car.  I’m pretty sure I got us up early enough to draw Pam a bubble bath and wash her hair while she still snoozed in the tub and I had a full breakfast ready and waiting for Pam and George when they were ready.  As planned, we made it without incident to Minneapolis.  We had our carry ons with us and headed to baggage claim to retrieve our packs and gear.  We each donned our packs, George and I grabbed an end of the duffle bag of excess gear and food (George placed his camera on top of the duffle) and we headed to the car rental counter.  We got an SUV, threw our gear it and headed north—no problem, flawless planning.

                We stopped for lunch at Pickwick Restaurant and Pub in Duluth and had a table overlooking Lake Superior.  It was perfect.  We were on schedule and had plenty of time so we decided to take the scenic drive along the coast to Grand Marais.  We stopped at a scenic overlook north of town and decided to take some pictures.  Pam and I are snapping away while George is shuffling luggage to get his camera out.  Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle yet still no camera.  Clothes and camera are the only responsibilities Pam and George had and I took care of EVERYTHING else.  Houston, we have a problem.

                He was amazingly calm considering he’d lost a $1000 of camera equipment.  I called the rental car company to see if someone had turned in a camera—no luck.  We returned to Duluth and went to Best Buy for George to buy a newer Canon camera, zoom lense, and memory cards.  $1,100 later we’re back on the road.

                We got to the hotel in Grand Marais a little later than planned but we still had time to head out for pizza before we went back to our room at the Best Western to repack gear to get ready for an early start in the morning.  We have reservations for the 7:30a ferry so we need to be ready to get up and go.  Add in a little uncertainty about time zones with our departure times and that means we need to hit the road by 5a.  As we are packing up, we are having a difficult time getting everything to fit.  Both Pam’s and George’s packs are bulging so I keep agreeing to take more gear.  We’re going to be on the island for 8 days and we hadn’t realized how much space the extra food would take.  We managed to get it all attached (there was more hanging off of the packs than I would like, but it will dissipate in a few days as we eat).

                Finally, we got it all together and put the packs in the SUV.  We kept just what we had to wear in the morning and our toothbrushes and went to bed.  Pam and George both snore.  I wake up every 15 minutes afraid we’ve overslept. 

                We beat the sun up in the morning but by the time we were ready to go, it was light enough for us to see the view from our hotel room.  We were directly on Lake Superior with a bench right on the shore outside of our door.  There was a colorful sunrise in the works but we wouldn’t be able to stay and watch it for long.  The older I get, the more trouble I have dealing with time deadlines.  I knew we had ferry reservations but I wasn’t sure of the exact time because Isle Royale is in the Eastern Time Zone AND Minnesota is in the Central Time Zone AND I get antsy as deadlines approach AND I’m not a morning person AND I wasn’t exactly sure where the ferry dock was in Grand Portage.  Do the math.  I was overly nervous (turns out for no reason).  We made it with plenty of time to spare.  We even had time to take a picture of George’s camera sitting alone on the dock while we were boarding.

                Since we were getting off at Windigo which is the first stop, our gear was the last to go on.  The ferry ride on Voyager II is almost 2 hours.  We got a table in the galley and played cards while drinking coffee on the ride out.  We saw a few lighthouses in the distance and got what pictures we could.  Lake Superior has the highest concentration of lighthouses in the world, but even that didn’t help the Edmond Fitzgerald.  Gordon Lightfoot is alive and doing well in MN.  We must have seen 20 billboards advertising his concerts on the drive up yesterday.

                Isle Royale is the largest island in the largest great lake.  Isle Royale National Park is actually made up of several islands.  As you get to the park, small islands start popping up and the boat slows as you approach Windigo at the far end of Washington Harbor.  As we slowed down, we stopped our card game and went topside to see what we could see. 

                Included in the ferry fee is the NPS fees based upon the length of your intended stay.  Even though our fees have already been collected, we needed to stop in at one of the ranger stations to get our permit and tentative itinerary for our stay on the island.  There are 36 campgrounds distributed on the island (all first come first served) and the NPS would like to have a general idea of where you plan to be, but they aren’t sticklers about it because this is one of the least visited national parks because of its remoteness.

                Once we arrive on the island, everyone on the boat gets off to get a “leave no trace” discussion by a ranger before proceeding.  Considering this was our departure point, we waited while everyone else got their permits before we got ours.  This gave us a chance to weigh our packs and discuss our plans.  I was hoping to keep George’s pack weight between 30 and 35 pounds—we missed that mark; 45#.  Likewise with Pam’s pack weight, 30# max—42#.  I’m going to be hearing about this for quite some time.  The only thing that kept the belly aching down was that my pack weighed in at 62#.  

                Overpacking mistake #1:  At the Grand Canyon, we were the only ones that didn’t carry alcohol down into the Canyon.  I wasn’t going to make that mistake again.  I wanted to surprise Pam and George with some treats along the way.  I had 3 bottles of wine and a bottle of Schnapps in my pack (there’s 10 pounds!)  Not actual bottles, but collapsible 750 ml bags.  I’m thinking we’re going to be drinking sooner rather than later in the trip.

                As luck would have it, the ranger that helped us with our permit had just been transferred from Olympic NP so we talked to her about the Gray Wolf Loop we were going to do in September.  She thought this was a great backdoor into Olympic and that we would not be disappointed.  Our plan on Isle Royale was to hike the length of the island in the next week to meet our return ferry in Rock Harbor next Sunday—about 50 miles, or roughly 8 miles a day average.  Not too aggressive but a challenge for George with this being his first backpacking trip in over 4 decades.

                The hike for today was a steady climb from Windigo to Sugar Mountain where we’d gain about 800’ over 5 miles.  It didn’t seem too daunting to us since we had just done the Grand Canyon in February, but this proved to be pretty tough for George.  Let’s throw in a few more challenges, muddy trails, flies in full frenzy, too heavy of packs, and, in the interest of full disclosure, a little more extra body weight than desired (this is one of the reasons that motivated us to get him out here).  We tried going slow.  From my Boy Scout days we would put the slowest hiker in front to set the pace for the group.  This didn’t work with George.  If we put him in front, he was like a blood hound on the scent of a rabbit that would run himself to death.  I couldn’t keep up with him because he felt he was holding everyone else up so he’d go all out but then have to stop and rest every few minutes.  If we put him behind, he’d drop back out of sight and we had no idea if he was just going slow or had experienced the worst case scenario.  We finally settled on Pam out front and me in back with George in the middle.  Pam is a slow but steady hiker so her pace was just about right for George.

                After we crested Sugar Mountain, there is a side trail to the right that leads to Island Mine Campground.  This side trail was a muddy mess that was difficult for all of us.  We had a huge downhill and then another slippery uphill before we got to the campsite.  Island Mine Campground doesn’t have any shelters so we just picked an open site.  There was only one other couple in the campsite and they were already set up and in the tent to get away from the flies.  It had taken us almost 6 hours to hike 6.9 miles.  George was dragging and Pam’s whine meter was running a little high. 

                We set up camp as quick as we could and cooked supper.  This was the first time I had taken only my BioLite campstove and no backup.  The wood in the area was damp, but we managed to get it fired up and going.  I didn’t carry the stainless steel pot that BioLite makes for the stove but just had my lightweight aluminum coffee pot.  After a bit, George and I developed a routine for keeping the stove fed and going strong.  While the men were cooking and getting water, Pam set up our sleep system (inflated the Thermarest neoairs and got our Big Agnes double bag laid out.  We boiled a couple pots of water, one for drinks and another pot for the dehydrated meal and cleaning water. 

                After supper, I suggested some hot chocolate with peppermint Schnapps as a nightcap.  George said he didn’t want to drink any alcohol on the trip and Pam said she was too tired and just wanted to go to bed.  WTF?  I’ve got 3 bottles of wine and a bottle of Schnapps and no one wants a drink.  I acquiesced and went to bed without any alcohol.  Fortunately, I didn’t need the extra kick to fall asleep.  As soon as we got in our tents, it started to rain.

                Did I mention it started to rain when we got in our tents?  Did I mention when it stopped?  Maybe I didn’t mention when it stopped because it didn’t.  To me, there is not a more peaceful sound in the world than the sound of rain bouncing off of your tent while you’re cuddled up warm and toasty with the one you love.  Our Big Agnes sleeping bag kept us warm as long as we were wearing long underwear, a stocking cap, and kept hugging each other.  It was pretty cold last night.  I think George may have even gotten in his bag (he tends to be on the warm side—we could detect his presence through the night from the heat emanating from him from across the campsite).  When we got our permits yesterday, we found out that the rangers had only been on the island for a little over a week because it had been a pretty cold winter with a late thaw.  The only complaints I heard from Pam had to do with her getting cold every time I got up to pee.  I only had two complaints: 1) I had to do get up to pee four times and Pam’s chilled back was minimal to what I felt; and 2) I was warm in the bag, almost too warm—the closer anything is to the center of the bag is, the hotter it gets.  What is the closest to the center when 2 people spoon?  I had an extremely sweaty crotch when in bed so the cold felt artic to mini-me.

                We reluctantly got up when the rain slowed to a drizzle.  George had collected a bunch of extra sticks for the BioLite last night before he went to bed.  I think it’s safe to say that he has fallen in love with this stove.  I’ve carried this stove on a few trips in the past, but have always had a backup since it was new to me, but no backup on this trip.  I really like it.  It’s fun to use and you never have to worry about fuel.  The only draw-back is the weight.

                At any rate, we boiled enough water for oatmeal and coffee and ate under the cover of trees.  We took our time hoping that the rain would stop, but it didn’t.  We had no choice but pack up in the rain.  Any less weight in our packs from the little food we ate was more than made up from the soaking wet tents.  We hit the mud trough (aka trail) around 11, late even for us.

                The hiking today didn’t have as much elevation change as yesterday since we had already climbed up to the center ridge of the island.  We only had a couple hundred feet to gain and then loose right as we got into camp.  Of course, it rained all day and was foggy so we didn’t get great views when we climbed over Mount Desor—we could almost make out Lake Superior from the top.  We did see lots of fresh moose scat and some really fresh wolf poop on Mt Desor so we were very hopeful catching some glimpses of wildlife this week.

                Isle Royale, other than being the least visited NP, is also a science project on a large scale.  Due to its isolation in Lake Superior, there are a very limited number of large mammals.  In fact, only moose and wolves.  The NPS is monitoring how the two species interact over time and if the predator species (wolf) will deplete the prey species (moose).  So far, the moose population seems to be in the lead with over 1000 on the island and the wolf population is nearing its end with less than 10 left.  In the not too distant past, there were 2 wolf packs on the island but inbreeding and death is threatening the wolves’ survival.  With Lake Superior frozen over all the way to the mainland last winter, one wolf crossed over to the mainland and was shot by a local resident.  It probably would have died any way because these wolves have no concept of roads/cars due to their isolation in the lake.  Right now, it looks like the wolves’ greatest hope is that some mainland wolves cross back to the island when the lake is frozen over.  The NPS is very reluctant to intervene in the natural order of nature on the island.

                We got into South Desor around 5.  It was slow going today for the same reasons as yesterday.  George also fell a few times so now he’s sore, muddy, dirty & tired in addition to old, and overweight—the backpacker’s trifecta of misery.  What was supposed to be a pleasure trip for Gorge is fast becoming a Stalinesque gulag archipelago experience.  I’m pretty sure I heard him call me Comrade Stalin when I urged him on after a break. 

                An amazing thing happened when we got into camp—it stopped raining and the skies cleared.  This calls for a celebration so I took a bottle (bag) of wine with me to chill in Lake Desor when I was filtering water.  We set up our tents and let them dry a bit while we cooked supper.  After eating and cleanup, we finished getting camp set up and then I broke out the wine.  George held firm to his “no alcohol” on this trip so Pam and I went to sleep feeling very relaxed after 2 large glasses each—once you pop the screw top, you’ve GOT to empty the bag.

                The clear skies didn’t last long.  Not too long after we got in the tents, the monsoon started.  By the time morning arrived, none of us had any interest in getting out of our tents.  After a while, we felt George’s heat signature moving about outside.  He called me out to talk with him a bit.

                The original plan was to hike 8.1 miles to Hatchet Lake today to continue our way to Rock Harbor.  George was glum and told me he didn’t think he could make it.  It wasn’t the weight of his pack or physical conditioning, it was actually something worse (which I, too, have experienced while hiking—no, not hemorrhoids).  With the rain all day yesterday and the trail diving, George’s pants had gotten totally soaked.  Larger people can attest to this, when you’re a little gravity enhanced, your thighs sometimes rub together.  Add wet pants to thigh rubbing, and you get a very irritated inflamed patch of skin on the inside of your thighs.  This hot spot is painful every step.  In the past, I’ve tried boxer briefs to keep my thighs covered and dry (didn’t work for me at the time).  The only real solution I found was too just lose the weight.  George had some gauze pads large enough to cover the inflamed area, but asked if I had anything else.  All I could suggest was gold bond foot powder to dry it out or Vaseline to slick it up—he didn’t like either idea.

                With the rain and George’s inflamed thighs, we decided to change our trip itinerary.  No longer would we try to cross the island, but we’d go back to Windigo and set up base there.  Also, since we were no longer time pressed, we would just chill today while it rained.  Since we weren’t going to be leaving camp today, I decided to chill another bottle of wine (purely in the interests of lightening our pack weights overall). 

                Pam and I carry an REI Half Dome T3+ tent so we have plenty of room in the tent.  We rearranged things and invited George to join us for a day of cards.  Since there aren’t any bears on the island, we can be pretty slack with food storage, as in, we had all the food in our tent.  We ate a cold breakfast of protein bars, PB crackers, and gorp and then started playing 3 handed hearts.  Normally, I dominate at cards, but George is also a card counter so it was basically a 2 man contest (sorry, Pam, but it’s true).  After several games with George coming out on top, I decided to introduce an air of apathy into my play.  I unscrewed the second bag of wine—it was noon somewhere.

                From this point on, I don’t know who won (or do I care).  My strategy was working perfectly.  Pam and George both declined the wine so I was forced (yes, forced) to kill the bag all by myself. The trials of leadership never end!  We also ate a cold lunch in the tent.  We had found some backpackers’ chicken salad that we just added cold water to and ate on tortilla wraps.  I thought it was delicious, Pam and George were less than enthusiastic about it.  I have no idea what could have influenced my taste buds so.

                After about 8 hours of tent isolation, the rain let up enough for us to emerge to cook a hot supper of lasagna and apple crisp.  While we were eating, a couple of young guys from Milwaukee came into camp.  These were the first people we had actually seen since leaving Windigo 2 ½ days ago. 

                The sun was actually shining when we woke up.  We got up and spread all of our gear out so it could dry while we had breakfast.  By the time we dried out the tents and packed up, my pack was a good 10 pounds lighter than it was on Sunday (4# of wine, 4# of rain soaked gear and 2# drinking water).

                We made pretty good time heading back today.  George’s thigh was cooled off a bit and his clothes were dry (that is until he fell again).  As we headed back over Mt Desor, blood hound George was leading in the area where we saw the wolf poop on Sunday.  He claimed to hear growling in the weeds (not aggressive growling, more like a mom telling her kid to shut up).  We might have surprised the young pup playing before ma could take charge of the situation.  We also saw some really fresh chocolate balls on the trail.  In the interest of science, I tried to get Pam or George to pick some up to see if it was still warm, but they have zero scientific curiosity.

                The side trail leading into Island Mine was in even worse shape than Sunday.  Even so, we slid into camp by 3:30.  Island Mine is one of the campgrounds where campfires are allowed.  We immediately built a fire for the ambiance and smoke.  Without the rain, the bugs were back out.  George and I both got out our headnets to try to get some relief.  For some reason, they didn’t bother Pam much.  I guess that just proves we are much sweeter than she is.

                We set up our tents and chairs for a leisurely afternoon.  I tried to get the two bumps I’m hiking with to hike down to the mine but got no takers.  I was here about 8 years ago and we went to the mine.  They actually made the right decision to skip it, it just looks like a sinkhole.  There were a family of squirrels living in one of the trees above our campsite.  The 3 younguns were out playing most of the afternoon and early evening so we had live entertainment.  The squirrels on Isle Royale have actually evolved into their own species.  They are much smaller and have shorter tails.

                We fired up the BioLite.  It has been decided that the stove is man’s work and we let Pam off with just doing a little dish cleaning to make up for us cooking and filtering water—it’s a great deal (for whom, I’m not saying).  We’ve got our system down by now.  We break 5-6 small sticks about 3” long and pick the pot up every 30-45s and drop the bundle in.  We keep the stove blasting this way.  We boiled 3 pots of water.  One for hot tea, one for the meal and wash water, and a 3^rd for after dinner drinks of hot chocolate and peppermint schnapps.  Since I’m in charge of mixing drinks and the weight is coming off of my back, the drinks end up mysteriously strong.  It definitely warms us up.

                As we are sitting around the campfire sipping our toxic chocolates after all the chores were done, we see a couple of eyes in the dark.  We can’t tell what they belong to but we manage to get some pictures and make out the form of a very ratty looking fox.

                I don’t know if it’s George or if Pam and I are just getting slower, but our start time on this trip seems to be 11a instead of our usual trend of 10:30.  It doesn’t really matter because we’re not covering long distances or have any schedule that we have to follow. 

                The trip today is the reverse of our first day.  Since that was all uphill, we’ve got an easy downhill trek today with shelters to look forward to once we get to Windigo.  Other than the mudslide out of Island Mine, the hike is uneventful.  Once again, we saw lots of moose poop but no moose.  I’ve decided the NPS has relocated all of the moose to warmer climes as compensation for enduring such a hard winter.  I’m sure at any minute we are going to run into a ranger with a pack full of moose poop walking along the trail a dropping piles every so often to keep park visitors hopes alive of seeing a moose.

                We got into Windigo by midafternoon and walked around trying to decide which shelter to take.  We finally settle on #7 for a myriad of reasons:  1) it’s relatively close to the outhouse; 2) there are squirrels playing in the trees above the shelter; 3) it’s next to a shelter that has been blocked off for some nesting loons so we might catch glimpses of them; and 4) it’s available.  Actually, there aren’t a lot of people in camp.  Only 2 other shelters are occupied and there is one hammock camper here as well.

                After we drop our packs in the shelter, we head on up to the general store and ranger station.  We talk to the kid (he’s 22 but we’re finally old enough that everyone under 30 is a kid) that’s working at the general store.  This is his second year working on the island.  Because of his work schedule/days off, he knows this end of the island very well but hasn’t really made it to the Rock Harbor end.  We buy some pop tarts for breakfast (oatmeal every day is getting a little old) and have some chips and a soda before heading down to the ranger station.

                They’ve got some nice displays at the ranger station.  A full moose skeleton (the closest we’ve gotten to a real moose so far since we haven’t found the ranger spreading the poop) and a stuffed wolf.  This old wolf used to take down full grown moose by himself—a real bad-ass in the wolf world.  He wasn’t even as big as my dogs but I don’t think my dogs would survive the “Call of the Wild”; they are more “White Fang” ending their lives in the comfort of a fireplace.  After talking to the ranger on duty and the general store kid, we decide to take a short overnight out to Huginnin Cove tomorrow.

                We go back to our shelter and cook another relaxing meal of chicken vindaloo, bean & beef chili, and chocolate chocolate cheese cake for dessert.  Pam and I usually skip the backpacker deserts, but George packed enough deserts for one/meal with a few extras.  When we were doing our pre-trip packing, we saw all the dehydrated meals George bought—for every actual meal, he had two desserts.  He has a bit of a sweet tooth at times.

                The shelters are 3 sided with a screen front and a picnic table outside.  After supper, we maneuvered the picnic table inside so we could play cards away from the bugs.  Once the sun went down, the temperature dropped fast.  When we could see our breath, we called it a night.  If only it would have stopped getting colder then.  We ended up wearing all of our clothes and jackets and still shivered a bit.  George unpacked his tent and used his fly as an extra cover.  I don’t know if it was the Indian food, or just backpacking food in general, but George’s fly rarely rested on his sleeping bag because it tended to keep blowing in the wind.

                Mornings go faster when you don’t have to dry out and fold up a tent.  Even so, we still didn’t start any earlier than usual because we stayed in bed longer because of the cold.  George claimed not to be able to sleep (snoring sounds contradicted this statement), so he was up early to get water boiling for breakfast.  I think the real reason he got up early is that he loves the stove and doesn’t like to share the fun of playing with it.  Between him and me, we’ve probably got 50 pictures of the stove in action.  How many pictures of flames does one need?  Apparently, one more than I already have—it is a lot of fun.

                We walk along Washington Creek for about ½ mile before we cross a pretty cool bridge and start climbing up another ridge between us and the shore.  There’s great views of Washington Harbor and Windigo behind us when we get to the top of the ridge.  From here, it’s an easy down-hill into Huginnin Cove.  When we were getting close to the shore, we start hiking beside a creek the rest of the way in.  We noticed a large floating foam mass in one of the pools.  I assume it was phosphates that have leached into the water from people doing dishes in the creek.  It was both cool to see but a little disturbing that no more people that come out to this island can have that much of a noticeable effect on the environment.  This reinforces our commitment to “leave no trace”.

                We get into camp and set up by mid-afternoon.  I take the last bottle of wine down to chill in Lake Superior when I go to filter water.  We have a nice campsite on a point overlooking the lake and we can see Canada in the distance.  If you look at the Canadian/USA border, from the west coast across it’s 54 deg 40 sec (history did sink in 54 40 or fight) but the border jumps north in Lake Superior so we can claim exclusive ownership of Isle Royale.

                We made teriyaki chicken and Indian lentils for supper.  Neither Pam nor George liked the lentils so I over ate the vast majority.  After we eat, we make our way along the shore to a point that sticks further out so we can get better views of the sunset.  The views of Canada are hazy and we can’t quite tell what we are seeing as we look across to Thunder Bay—it looks like a wall.  We have a colorful and clear sunset then make our way back to camp to finish off our wine and have dessert.  George skips the wine but not the dessert.  It was chocolate chocolate cheesecake again.  I really have to wonder if we are starving George because he tears the bag apart to lick this one clean.

                We took a little longer route back to Windigo to see something new.  We walked along the shore of the island for the first ½ mile.  This is a very rugged shore with lots of rocks and cliffs.  Unfortunately, it was cold and foggy with an ever so slight mist in the air.  Even though the sights were nice, we were actually glad to make the turn and start the climb inland.  Once we got over the ridge line, the sun came out again and warmed us up.  We saw the ruins of an old cabin and some rails which were part of an abandoned mine.  We stopped on some large rocks overlooking a glen.  We decided to have lunch here to give the local moose population a chance to show itself.  How could any self-respecting moose skip a glen with some boggy areas and lots of tender fresh grass?  We got our answer—the moose on Isle Royale obviously have no self-respect because they never showed up.

                We got back to Windigo by midafternoon and took the same shelter we had had the night before last.  George was tired and wanted to take a nap but Pam and I decided to go look around a bit.  We walked out to the mouth of Washington Creek moose hunting.  When I was here 8 years ago, we saw lots of moose.  At one point a bull and two cows even wondered into our camp and munched away on foliage all night long.  It was very exhilarating to see a big bull up close.  Their antlers weigh over 90# each so he’s carrying my body weight on his head.  Amazingly strong animals and something you don’t want to trifle with.  Nonetheless, I would like to spot one for Pam’s sake.

                After an hour or so, we gave up and headed back to our shelter.  What we saw was even more amazing and terrifying than a charging bull moose.  The sides of our shelter were actually bowing in and out through the sheer force of George’s snoring.  It was awe inspiring to realize we had slept through such a strong force of nature.

                Tonight we fixed beef stroganoff and zesty lime chicken for supper.  Afterwards, I still had a new treat for Pam and George that I have been carrying the whole time.  We boiled some water for hot chocolate and peppermint schnapps but kept the stove going.  I got out my treat—“jiffy pop” popcorn.  Popcorn, hot chocolate, and hearts.  It just doesn’t get any better than this.

                It started raining overnight and the day was overcast and cold.  Once again, we had to wear every article of clothing to stay warm.  Our bag is supposed to be good for 30 degrees so my guess is that we were down to the mid 20s.  As long as we stayed cuddled up together and inside, it was great.  Unfortunately, I am a 50 year old male so I have no idea what it’s like to have 8 uninterrupted hours of sleep.  No matter what Pam thinks (and I never get tired of hearing the phrase “something must be wrong with you”) if I only get up once, that’s a great night; twice is an ok night; three times is a normal night.  I had another normal night of sleep and so did George.

                After breakfast we played cards for a while waiting for it to warm up.  Finally, we gave up hope and headed to the general store to have a catered lunch.  As long as we were moving, it was pleasant and since we weren’t carrying packs we felt optimistic.  We set out with the object of hiking to Cumberland Point to see the southwest part of the island.  As usual, we had a small ridge to climb up and then we got rewarded with broad views of the widest part of the island.  We walked the trail for a couple of miles to get nice views of Lake Superior, but after a while we decided to turn back because we hadn’t brought any water with us. 

                When we crested the ridge on the return, we heard a new sound that we hadn’t heard before or could identify.  It was definitely not natural.  When we got a chance we headed down to an overlook that allowed us to see back to Windigo.  Mystery solved, there was a Coast Guard ship parked at the dock. 

                We explored some more and walked through the moose exclosure—a small plot of land with a chainlink fence around it to see how the foliage would look in a natural state without moose converting all the green into shit.  It didn’t look too different to me.  We then headed down to the dock to take a look at the ship.  When we walked out on the dock, a seaman came out to talk to us (he was apparently the watchman).  They were just on a routine mission checking buoys around the island and making sure things weren’t damaged over the winter.  If we had asked, I think they would have let us tour the ship, but the rest of the crew were having mess so we decided to leave them in peace and head back to our shelter for supper.

                After supper we got everything packed up as well as we could for tomorrow.  We got everything ready to take showers in the morning and have clean clothes for the ferry ride off the island.  As usual, we played cards before bed with the twist that we had no treats.  We had finally polished off of the alcohol and popcorn.

                When we had gotten back to Windigo on Wednesday, we talked to the ranger about switching our pick up location from Rock Harbor to here and she said no problem, they’d let Voyager II know.  It was now our last day so we had breakfast and headed up for showers.  What a joy a hot shower is after 8 days of grime and cold weather.  All three of us had clean sets of clothes we had kept for our return to civilization.

                On the way to the shower, I had a scare, compliments of Pam.  Pam only has one scream, be it good or bad.  We can be driving down the interstate and she’ll see something she likes and she’ll scream.  I’ll think a semi is about to run us down, but it will just be a couple deer grazing in a field.  Pam saw a bunny by the shower house and she LOVES bunnies (we have 10,000 figurines that confirm this fact).  I thought she’s finally seen a moose and it was charging me.

                The shower times were actually quite generous.  Pam and I shared a shower with double tokens.  We both got clean and had time left.  Since I’d paid $3.50 for each shower, I felt obliged to use the time.  Pam was dressed by the time my hot water ran out.  Unfortunately, she didn’t have a blow dryer and all she could find was an electrical outlet to put her fingers into in an effort to dry her hair.

                Once we were clean and packed up, we dropped our packs by the dock and headed up to the general store for a drink (unlike the Grand Canyon, there isn’t alcohol at this end of Isle Royale).  When we saw the ferry enter the harbor we headed down to the dock.  We had about a 4 hour ride to get back to Grand Portage because Windigo is the first pickup in their circumnavigation of the island.  We got a table down in the galley but didn’t play cards—we were played out.  We just watched the island and eventually fell asleep.

                I get a feeling of melancholy at the end of a trip.  It is alleviated some if we have another trip planned (which we do, Olympic in September).  I’m usually ready for some of the pleasures of civilization, but I’m never ready to return to work.  We got into our car and headed back for a late lunch in Grand Marais at the same pizza place we ate at on our last night in civilization (pizza provides a safe transition back from dehydrated food).  We called the airport once we got into cell range and someone honest had turned in George’s camera to lost and found (you’ve gotta love Scandanavians!).

                I would rate this as a successful trip.  Although we didn’t hike our original plan, we adapted.  The original plan was to hike about 50 miles and we ended up with approximately 32 miles with packs.  It was a good reintroduction to backpacking for George (plus he got his camera back).  I probably would recommend going to Isle Royale around Labor Day when it’s warmer and just past black fly high season, just be careful about going too late because what little facilities there are on the island do close down for the season.